ON THE STAMPING-GROUND 65 



rounds. At the end of the third, he rested close 

 to my focus mark, and I pulled the string and 

 again cleared the hill. Just what the termination 

 of the struggle would have been, had I not dis- 

 turbed the contestants, is hard to imagine ; but it 

 is probable that the weaker of the two finally 

 must have acknowledged defeat for the reason 

 that he must have lacked the necessary wind and 

 stamina to get back on the forbidden ground. 



Again the birds returned ; but now as the morn- 

 ing advanced, they seemed to have lost much of 

 their early craze. As usual, though, they did not 

 fail to have at least one quadrille immediately 

 after getting back to this strangely attractive 

 hill; but it lasted a shorter time than usual, and 

 soon they were sitting in couples, or at least twos, 

 beak to beak; and so quiet did they become that 

 at times not a whisper of a sound arose from the 

 hill. One chap very close to the blind was ob- 

 served plainly to attempt a nap. His eye closed 

 dreamily, stayed shut a few moments, opened 

 and took a survey of the world, then closed again 

 for a short while. His naps were even more ab- 

 breviated than the proverbial forty winks, but 

 doubtless were refreshing to such a dance-worn 

 roisterer. 



